My point exactly, Caz. The vociferous, harsh anti-christian, anti any religion lobby need to understand that it is not all bad and that virtually all of the things they say they want in society ie tolerance, equality, forgiveness, compassion etc. are derived from the message of Christ. I don't believe in God myself but have seen for myself the comfort faith can bring . I expect the same can be said of other faiths and if so good on them. What gives anybody the right to say you can't believe in something? Dawkins? Fascist.

You might actually want to read Dawkins' work before criticising him with a blatant strawman.

How very snotty of you. This is a discussion forum not an exam. Dawkins is often quoted and probably misquoted by those who are intolerant of Christians. I followed up Mark's comment and saw that he was right and conceded that he was.

How very snotty of you. This is a discussion forum not an exam. Dawkins is often quoted and probably misquoted by those who are intolerant of Christians. I followed up Mark's comment and saw that he was right and conceded that he was.

I appreciate that you conceded you were wrong, but I still get tired of people speaking on subjects they know nothing about.

And no, he is not misquoted by those who are intolerant of Christians. He is misquoted by people like you, who act as apologists for Christians.

You can't misrepresent the man's views, then turn around and blame people like me for misquoting him.

Go watch Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. It's a right wing Christian propaganda film. You'll get a sense of why I have no sympathy for Christians.

You think Christians have it rough? Try being an atheist in a country like America.

My point exactly, Caz. The vociferous, harsh anti-christian, anti any religion lobby need to understand that it is not all bad and that virtually all of the things they say they want in society ie tolerance, equality, forgiveness, compassion etc. are derived from the message of Christ. I don't believe in God myself but have seen for myself the comfort faith can bring . I expect the same can be said of other faiths and if so good on them. What gives anybody the right to say you can't believe in something? Dawkins? Fascist.

I thought you were agreeing with me that there are many good Christians. Clydey, atheists in USA are not persecuted. Now if you were a fourteen year old Christian girl in Egypt , . .

Are you kidding me?

It is almost impossible to get elected to office as an atheist. There is precisely one openly atheist member of congress. There are doubtless more actual atheists, but they can't be open about it without committing career suicide.

Atheist kids are bullied and their families are hounded to move out of town.

Once again you're speaking on a subject you don't know a thing about. Here's a study showing that atheists are trusted to the same extent as rapists in the USA.

It is almost impossible to get elected to office as an atheist. There is precisely one openly atheist member of congress. There are doubtless more actual atheists, but they can't be open about it without committing career suicide.

Atheist kids are bullied and their families are hounded to move out of town.

Once again you're speaking on a subject you don't know a thing about. Here's a study showing that atheists are trusted to the same extent as rapists in the USA.

Now watch this clip where Steve Harvey basically states that atheists are immoral.

That is a mainstream talkshow hosted by Tyra Banks.

No one batted an eyelid. In his bigoted statement, replace atheist with "black", "Jewish", "gay", or really any minority you can think of. Can you imagine the outrage there would be?

One day you'll learn to keep your mouth shut until you've done some research.

One day you need to look up persecution in the dictionary. The persecution of Christians in the 10/40 Window has increased by 400 percent over the last 10 years"Americans who have not experienced persecution do not fully understand what it means to have their lives threatened, homes destroyed, rights violated and loved ones imprisoned, all because of embracing faith in Jesus Christ," said K. P. Yohannan, GFA founder and president, in a statement. "In the 14 countries we serve, persecution of this sort has become a normal way of life, especially for those directly involved in mission work."The 10/40 Window is a section of the world – between 10 and 40 degrees north of the equator – that encompasses those nations that have been least reached with the Gospel message. These nations include China, India, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Sudan and Nigeria, just to name a few.

One day you need to look up persecution in the dictionary. The persecution of Christians in the 10/40 Window has increased by 400 percent over the last 10 years"Americans who have not experienced persecution do not fully understand what it means to have their lives threatened, homes destroyed, rights violated and loved ones imprisoned, all because of embracing faith in Jesus Christ," said K. P. Yohannan, GFA founder and president, in a statement. "In the 14 countries we serve, persecution of this sort has become a normal way of life, especially for those directly involved in mission work."The 10/40 Window is a section of the world – between 10 and 40 degrees north of the equator – that encompasses those nations that have been least reached with the Gospel message. These nations include China, India, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Sudan and Nigeria, just to name a few.

What does that have to do with the United States? You have basically offered a quote that has nothing to do with persecution in the United States.

I offered you proof to back up what I said. You haven't even attempted to refute it.